A Quick Review Of The Apple VSM (We Were Pretty Happy Until We Realized We’d Been Snookered)
In keeping with our plans to tune in and review more VSMs this year we were happy to attend Apple’s nice (and early, for West-Coasters) Feb. 25th Meeting, held at 8:00 a.m. Pacific time; 11:00 Eastern. Apple is one of our top-two investments – with an amazing...
Take Ownership of Your Governance: Don’t Wait for Activists to Start the Conversation
Navigating M&A and Shareholder Activism: Key Insights for 2025 Co-Editor Peder Hagberg interviews Bob Marese, President of MacKenzie Partners, on current trends in mergers and acquisitions, shareholder engagement, activism, and effective board governance heading...
Leveling the Playing Field of Corporate and Shareholder Transparency
A Call to Action from Joseph Caruso, CEO, Alliance Advisors Joe Caruso: Over the past few years, there’s been a growing call for greater corporate transparency, especially from government agencies, institutional investors, and proxy advisory firms. But are we really...
Reflections on “Engaging with Investors”
Over the Past 30+ Years – And Advice for Effectively Engaging Now – From Two Pioneers of Good Corporate Governance When we announced the theme for this year’s Special Supplement to the OPTIMIZER—our thirtieth edition—one of our advertisers noted that “thirty years...
HARSH CRITICISMS OF RULES FOR PROPONENTS AND CONDUCT OF Q&A AT VSMs: HOW TO AVOID BEING NAMED AND SHAMED
“Shareholders promoting both progressive and conservative agendas say companies are increasingly trying to limit their voices at annual shareholder meetings—the one day of the year when boards are required to hear from the people who own their companies,” a recent...
Big Transfer Agent Censured/Fined For Major Internal Control Failures
We wish we could say that we were shocked to read the long list of shocking findings by the SEC against Equiniti Trust Company, formerly known as American Stock Transfer & Trust Company. But readers, we have been very regularly warning transfer agents – and...
PCAOB Report On Auditing Deficiencies Shows “Leveling Off” … But Still Shocking Percentages Of Failed Audits.
WILL BAD AUDITOR GRADES SPILL OVER TO YOUR AGM? PREPARE NOW, WE SAY We were greatly encouraged by remarks from the recently reorganized PCAOB board leadership promising much greater scrutiny of public company auditors and a much stronger focus on the number of audit...
How’s This For “Forced Transparency”? Citi Adds New Section To Its QRS On Reorganization Efforts – Following SEC Inquiries – And Big Fines For Failing To Make Progress On Internal Controls
Our thoughts and prayers continue to go out to Citi CEO Jane Fraser as she struggles to rein-in the wild and reckless horse that Citi had become after more than a decade of ‘deferred maintenance’ on its key operating systems and their internal controls. But OUCH! As...
Perfect Timing As The “Independent Transparency Subcommittee” Announces “The 30 Most Transparent Companies In The US!”
A truly Blue-Ribbon Panel of Experts, Chaired by Broc Romanek, hits the streets just as public companies begin to jumpstart their AGM pre-planning activities and, ideally, to anticipate, and proactively address the most important issues that will be on the minds of...
Stock Splits Are Back In Fashion: Three Cheers, We Say
We are huge fans of stock splits (forward splits, that is) for a lot of reasons. We realized that we last wrote about them ten years ago, when there was a sudden upsurge, much like we are seeing now – like at Nvidia (10 for 1) Walmart (3 for 1) and Chipotle with a...
Podcast Alert: Annual Meeting Season 2026 — Expert Advice from Carl & Peder Hagberg
Carl and Peder Hagberg of The Shareholder Service OPTIMIZER join Meredith Ervine from TheCorporateCounsel.net to discuss proxy season risks, virtual meetings, and shareholder engagement for 2026.
Listen to hear their insights on this year’s annual meeting season.